Good morning. I hope that all who have become accustomed to accessing these daily thoughts were able to go to our NLCC website and find some of the articles from the past to tide you over while I was away. It has been an interesting few weeks for me. I have just recently returned from my annual trip to Canada. Before that, our church family traveled together to Kentucky and enjoyed a day at both the Creation Museum and the Ark Experience. Both sites were well worth the journey and the time, and I must say that I have truly enjoyed my time away from my desk.
As for Canada, the fish were biting well, the accommodations were wonderful, and the weather was kind of stormy but OK. Above all, the friendship and fellowship which I enjoyed on both of the journeys mentioned filled my days with happiness and my heart with joy.
Sometimes the joy we feel as we walk the trails of this life feel as though things couldn’t get any better. We are happy, joyful, and at peace. Praise God!
But if we think that these precious moments are the pinnacle of joy, we are sadly mistaken. The best that this life has to offer in this broken world is only a glimpse of the joy that lies ahead.
The truth of where we belong is shared with us in Philippians 3:20-21 as the apostle Paul speaks of the difference between those who look forward to eternity and those who have refused God’s grace: But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body. That’s correct, we will be transformed from this physical state to pure spiritual beings, right and righteous, ready for heaven.
God’s love for us is so complete that He sustains us, giving us from time to time fleeting glimpses of joy and occasional days of peace. But God wants us to always remember that we are not citizens of this planet. No, we are citizens of heaven, and it is there that the fullness of joy and the peace that surpasses our present understanding will be known.
The trip to Kentucky was great and the trip to Canada was all I could hope for! But as wonderful as they could be they do not compare with what lies ahead.
Come Lord Jesus!